DC Turkish Film Festival: “Sideway”

The residents of a small town set between a stormy sea and an ominous forest are going insane. A black ship anchored far away, a shrill sound, strange cases of arson, missing people, and the sun suddenly turning black lead the townsfolk to believe that the Antichrist is around. A young, modest guy with a mysterious mark on his back arrives in this bizarre place. Could he be Christ arriving to save the town? Sideway is a political allegory of the absurdity in today’s world. Description adapted from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (Dir.: Tayfun Pirselimoğlu, Turkey, 2017, 119 min., B&W, DCP, Turkish with English subtitles)